Brian Allgeier reminisces about his Ratchet & Clank journey

by Nick Doerr { Sep 4th 2007 at 7:15PM }

To quote the man, "What a strange long trip it's been." Brian Allgeier recently updated his blog over at IGN, swimming upstream in his river of memories about making Ratchet & Clank come to life, from the beginning to the latest PS3 version. While we'd love to recount his memory of Ratchet & Clank's roots with you, that's his story and we'd feel guilty if you didn't check out his own words on the matter. Let's just say that working on a dead-in-the-water project got everyone's creative juices flowing, resulting in the crazy gizmos we know and cherish along with our favorite furry hero.

Brian Allgeier went on to answer a question that many gamers want to ask many developers: how can you keep working on that same franchise for so long? Luckily, every game takes different strides in different directions to keep things fresh -- much like every Final Fantasy game is distinct, every Ratchet title has its own stylistic elements and added areas to keep the same characters fresh. The PS2 titles featured some RPG elements, but Allgeier says with the PS3 version "our goal has been to focus on a galactic adventure with expressive characters in lush and vivid worlds. We're developing new gameplay, storytelling techniques, and a stylistic approach to give players an immersive experience." We simply can't wait to get our hands on the final version of Tools of Destruction, especially after sitting back and learning what goes through the Creative Director's head.

Tags: insomniac, ratchetandclank

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Magma @ Sep 4th 2007 7:27PM

Not really related to this post, but firmware update 1.92 was just released I believe.

Magma @ Sep 4th 2007 7:28PM

Course nevermind, I'm retarded and missed the post.

John @ Sep 4th 2007 9:32PM

“What if a hi-tech robot crash landed on a primitive planet and met a furry primitive dude with a stick who dreamt of traveling to other planets?”

I remember the feeling of that first game. It was kinda like when Luke is a teen on Tatooine, like someone living in the desert with nothing to do, and suddenly all this stuff starts happening and he gets to pursue his starry-eyed dreams.

I still remember the first time I played the first Ratchet and Clank, because I suddenly fell in love with videogames all over again.

The scope, the graphics, the play, the programming, the sound, the music... everything was perfect. I remember being amazed that it was so huge... the last thing I'd played that was remotely like it was JetSet Willy II and Ultima V, for the Commodore 64.

"Since I work with a lot of different talented people from different backgrounds, I’ve discovered that it’s important to understand where each person is coming from. It’s critical to know the technical and time constraints that they deal with, and the aspects of their craft that they value the most. I often try to not get in the way and let people do what they do best."

I think Insomniac's values speak volumes-- every product they've created is first-class. And their working environment encourages this.

And I would heart what nasty235 posted, this franchise and this company definately have my heart and support (I also loved Resistance and can't wait for the 2nd one)-- I know a lot of guys in their 30's who don't post comments because they're raising families but they've either already reserved R&C:TOD or they bought a PS3 to wait for it.

DownwardMonkey @ Sep 4th 2007 10:18PM

@John

I'm 30, R&C is a system seller for me as well.

Loke @ Sep 4th 2007 10:44PM

I'm 34, and I bought the PS3 for this game. :-)

coalhalo @ Sep 5th 2007 11:16AM

I'm 37, and my wife and I are the legal guardians to her niece and two nephews. I post regularly on many sites, gaming and others. I own every R&C game except Size Matters, because I have yet to buy a PSP, (although I am mighty tempted to buy the Darth Vader PSP Slim when it comes out. And when I do, Size Matters will one of the games I buy that day.) I will be buying R&C: TOD on release day, but I bought my PS3 regardless. The PS3 will eventually have a great library of exclusive games, just like the PS2 and most other console do. It's just taking some time to get there.

freker @ Sep 5th 2007 3:57PM

I'm 20 and tbh, I discovered Ratchet a bit too late (I was a Jak fan) I must say, I found R+C a bit chunky, believing that it was too childish like the Spyro games. However, one summer, my mate accidentally bought a copy, because he forgot his sister had it. Then I was hooked, being a fan of wacky third person shooters, It took a while to get used to the lack of strafe. I quickly snapped up the other games...strafe, this was my new MDK. Anyway, I bought a PS3 just so I can play the new one, and will continue buying the games (even further PSP adventures) I'm glad Insomniac didn't sell of a great franchise like Crash Bandicoot had, to slowly wither and die. (I shouldn't of typed this on a pad on PS3...)